National Blog

Is "Audit the Fed" a Misnomer?

When we say Congress needs to "Audit the Fed," that is exactly what we propose to do -- have the Government Accountability Office conduct "a methodical examination and review" of the entire Federal Reserve System.

Yet Fed apologists working at The Brookings Institution (made up of many retired Fed officials) would like to obfuscate the point and play dumb, calling "Audit the Fed" a "misnomer" touting that the Fed already undergoes a "financial audit."

transactions or agreements with foreign central banks, governments, or nonprivate international financing organizations;

deliberations, decisions, or actions on monetary policy matters;

transactions made under the direction of the FOMC; and

discussions or communications between members of the Board and Federal Reserve System related to the above three areas.

This is the CORE of the Fed's operations, and it remains shielded from the public.

Audit the Fed, or "The Federal Reserve Transparency Act" as the bills, H.R. 24/S. 264, are actually titled, would strike these restrictions from law and allow -- for the FIRST TIME -- a complete and thorough "examination and review" of the Fed's operations in its history.

It's time for Congress to stop listening to the Fed's apologists working over at the Federal Reserve Retirement Center.